FCC and DOJ may agree on Sprint, T-Mobile merger
Thanks for the update. Just wondering... if the merger is approved, do you (or does anyone else on this thread) have any idea or prediction as to how quickly it might be implemented?
"The companies say it would take about three years to migrate customers over to the T-Mobile network." T-Mobile and Sprint are merging: Here's everything you need to know - CNET
Hope not
That's a little bit of a relief, anyway... my phone (on a Sprint MVNO) is not a universal unlocked model, so I might have to get a new phone sometime down the road unless T-Mo can come up with some sort of a solution to bridge the CDMA/GSM divide. Guess time will tell -- all part of the MVNO adventure. 
https://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2019/05/two-companies-interested-in-acquiring.html
Boost to get discarded to the highest bidder...
I'm not against the idea of Boost being sold off-- but thinking that it's a panacea for competition doesn't make sense to me. Boost will still be a New T-Mobile wholesale customer, so they're really only moving those customers another arm's length away. The necessary ingredient for divesting Boost to be a boost to competition is if wholesale rates are guarantied to be low enough to allow Boost to aggressively compete with Metro.
Could Boost become MVNO for AT&T and/or Verizon as well?
Sure (and a good point)-- at considerable back-office expense, and risk of loss of customer base (which will be an issue anyway, as people have to replace phones when CDMA starts being orphaned......).
And if Boost needs to switch to AT&T or Verizon, they'll then be negotiating in a 3-carrier 'sellers market' instead of a 4-carrier wholesale 'buyers market'.
Frankly, it might make more sense to force New T-Mobile to divest Metro, since Boost will face a 3-year ticking bomb of CDMA death, while Metro will be at less risk for compatibility moving forward. (Just a quick thought, there-- I haven't read or researched extensively......)
T-Mobile, Sprint could sell Boost for up to $3 billion, potential bidders say
Excerpt:
[i]"Stephen Stokols, chief executive officer of prepaid wireless company FreedomPop, said an undisclosed private equity group he is speaking with have placed Boost’s future value at about $4 billion, such as in an initial public offering.
While FreedomPop is not a bidder, Stokols said he is advising a private equity group preparing a bid. If that bid succeeds, he believes the group would combine their acquisition with FreedomPop and have him lead a combined company with the Boost assets.
Peter Adderton, founder of Boost Mobile who sold the U.S. business to Nextel in 2004, which was then acquired by Sprint, has also said he is interested in buying back Boost. He declined to comment on his valuation for the business.
Adderton said he and his lawyers have urged regulators to require T-Mobile and Sprint to also divest wireless spectrum to ensure Boost will be a viable competitor in the market.
Adderton added that regulators must also ensure the new T-Mobile does not employ anticompetitive practices to harm Boost, and the contract between the companies should be non-exclusive, which would allow Boost to buy network access from other carriers."[/i]
I agree with some analysts position that New T-Mo should have to divest some spectrum, too.
Having some of that spectrum accompany Boost in a sale, as Adderton advocates above, would be interesting as it could possibly make Boost a value competitor.
Now that's a twist which might well create that 4th carrier who would stoke the competition and maybe create some fear and trembling in the other big 3 carriers, provided that Amazon continues its M.O. of undercutting the prices of its competitors while looking way down the road for gains. Amazon Prime phone service: unlimited T&T and data $20 for prime members, $30 for others. (??):ohmy:
Where it ends does anybody know? The Whitehouse hates CN&N which is owned by AT&T who will be hurt if the merger goes through, and on the other hand, many Democrats and state Governors don't want the merger to take place because they think it will hurt competition and elevate prices for consumers. So an interesting mix of interests will decide the matter. The Whitehouse also hates Amazon.:S
No bid from Sprint, so I guess it's either merger or die.
Reports: 10 states moving to block Sprint/T-Mobile merger
A group of attorneys general from 10 states filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday in a bid to block a proposed merger between the wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint...
As expected...
https://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2019/06/t-mobile-sprint-could-be-making-6.html
Possible Dish $6B deal... Dish has wanted to get into the wireless service for the longest time...
Dish, or another video content provider, would be my last choice for a new buyer-- but probably New T-Mobile's first choice.
If they follow the trend from other content providers, Dish will mostly offer service at decent (but not great) rates, only to their subscribers. They're using it as a customer-retention device rather than marketing to the general public. That is not the type of competition needed to keep downward price pressure.